Romantic movies? We'll See.

Two of the upcoming movies we're waiting to see:  Gellhorn And Hemingway and My American Lover.  The former is based upon the relationship between journalist Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway.  The latter is based upon the romance between Simone de Beauvoir and Nelson Algren.

Clive Owen stars as Hemingway opposite Nicole Kidman.  The cast is said to include David Strathairn as John Dos Passos and Peter Coyote as Maxwell Perkins.  Others getting roles include Molly Parker, Tony Shalhoub, Parker Posey, and Diane Baker.

Johnny Depp plays Nelson Algren and singer Vanessa Paradis plays Simone de Beauvoir in My Favorite Lover.  Since they are real life lovers with a couple of kids, we're hoping that we can see real chemistry between them.  The movie will be based in part on Simone de Beauvoir's published letters and will no doubt involve at least one of her other lovers, Jean Paul Sartre.

I tend to think of the philosopher Sartre as part of an older generation, but he was born in 1905, the same year as actor Henry Fonda.  Too bad Henry Fonda isn't still around and still young enough to play Jean Paul Sartre in this movie.

This week I caught a showing of The Male Animal with Henry Fonda, Jack Carson, and Olivia de Havilland.  Dated it is, and hokey too, but it still has some marvelous scenes that make it worth watching.  I'd forgotten that it was Olivia de Havilland who had played Melanie in Gone With The Wind.

I went on-line and found Alexander Cockburn's analysis of the play/movie adaptation of The Male Animal, which originated with comic writer James Thurber.  Here's the link.